Understanding how to transfer assets across platforms without losing quality is a must-have skill in professional 3D pipelines. This day focuses on the complete process of exporting textured models from Maya and Substance Painter into Unreal Engine while maintaining fidelity and optimizing performance.

You begin with asset finalization in Maya—cleaning up geometry, freezing transformations, deleting history, and ensuring the pivot is in the right place. These are all essential steps before export. Then, you’ll export the model using the FBX format, making sure to keep smoothing groups and hierarchy intact.

Next, you’ll revisit Substance Painter, where your textured model is ready for export. You’ll use Unreal Engine-specific export presets, which generate maps like BaseColor, Normal, Roughness, Metallic, and Ambient Occlusion. You’ll also discuss naming conventions and folder structure to keep things organized and efficient.

In Unreal Engine, you’ll import the FBX and associated texture maps. You’ll learn how to create materials using the Material Editor, plugging each texture into the correct node: BaseColor into Base Color, Roughness into Roughness, and so on. We’ll also explore how to use packed texture maps (e.g., Roughness + Metallic + AO in RGB channels) to optimize material performance.

You’ll test the model under different lighting scenarios and camera angles, comparing it to the original in Substance Painter and Maya. This teaches you how to debug issues like incorrect normals, scale mismatches, or missing UVs.

By the end of the day, you’ll understand how to export game-ready assets from Maya and Substance Painter into Unreal Engine, preserving their visual quality and ensuring they behave as expected in real-time rendering environments.